


Fizzle and Fade

by panchostokes (badwolfrun)



Category: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Genre: Bathtubs, Comfort, F/M, Fluff, bathtub cuddles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-12
Updated: 2020-09-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:21:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26432572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/badwolfrun/pseuds/panchostokes
Summary: Nick and his wife bond in the tub after a long day.
Relationships: Nick Stokes/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 10





	Fizzle and Fade

His eyes closed, he relishes the slow rise of the water as he spreads his arms around the curved rim of the tub. The throbbing in his feet is fading, the tension in his back sizzling as his spine shifts to a more comfortable leaned back position. His legs stretch out, he tries not to think about the confining walls of the bathtub as  the soles of  his feet quickly meet the wall, but instead of the gentle waterfall from the faucet falling over his toes. 

There’s a comforting silence beyond the running water that he’s grateful for, though there’s a development of voices in his head. Some play out the events of the day, both the good and the bad. The echoes of laughter as he and his subordinates find some light in the darkness of their job. The questions asked of him and the answers he received from others. The warnings from his boss that he can’t be going into the field all the time, he shouldn’t have to, he’s the director, he’s there to run the lab not  _ be  _ the lab. The tense shouting barking from him and his fellow officers. The panicked breaths of a near miss.

The breaths that mirror ones from his past, which dredge up other voices. Other co-workers who would have been on his side today. Other bosses who would have just as easily put him down for his decisions. Other suspects screaming derogatory, empty threats as their hands are tied and reminded of their right to remain silent.

Other victims that he was too late to save. 

He opens his eyes with the release of a shuddering breath as he pulls himself out of his head. His eyes want to droop right back closed, he lets out a small groan, a plea to just  _ feel better  _ and not waste the rest of the night to the throes of exhaustion.

Maybe his age is finally catching up with him.

“Room for one more?”

His eyes see her in the periphery before the tongue poking out of his mouth gives away his answer. There’s a coy smile on Naomi’s face as she walks over to Nick, tearing away her clothes with an enviously youthful vigor. But he sees a falter in the spring to her step, the frizzle of her hair gives away that she’s had a  _ day,  _ too, and they both hope they can find some care and comfort in each other.

He sits up and offers up his hand, grabbing her waist with the other to assist her safely into the tub. She has a glass of wine in her hand that she sets on the shelf against the wall while she settles into Nick’s lap, he feels a tickle in his crotch as her butt cheeks warm him more than the water, and lets out a contagiously small giggle that’s lost to the sounds of the waving water. 

“Thought you were working late tonight,” Nick remarks as he starts to tend to Naomi’s shoulders, pulling her hair behind her ears, tracing his fingers down her spine, before he wraps his arms around her and rests his head on her left shoulder. “Not that I’m disappointed or anythin’, just thought you mentioned how you probably wouldn’t get a break today.” 

“I did, actually, things didn’t go as badly as I expected--not that they would with San Diego’s finest on the case,” Naomi teases, rubbing her hands on Nick’s thigh and running them down his legs before pulling them in towards her, wrapping herself in a fleshy chrysalis of Nick Stokes. 

“Mm. I thought you  _ agents _ were supposed to be taking charge,” Nick can’t help but jab, knowing that most of the fit that was thrown at him about his involvement was because the boys upstairs didn’t want to look so rambunctious around the “professionals,” making the department and city look bad. 

“And I thought the  _ director  _ was supposed to, you know, direct. Not pursue.”

“Oh, you too, huh?” Nick whines, tossing his hands down in the water in front of them bringing up a splash of giggles from his lover. 

“Relax, big guy, I know you’ve been itching for some action,” Naomi laughs. “I’m just glad you’re still here in one piece. Plus, how’s a leader gonna lead if he can’t set an example of how things are done under the Stokes reign of the crime lab?”

“I could have done better,” Nick admits with a heavy sigh.

“Oh, Nicky…” Naomi coos, leaning back into his chest, turning her head under his chin to meet his eyes. “You’re being too hard on yourself again.” 

Nick nuzzles against the side of her face with an affirming “mmpf” sound. 

“You know, I bet these big strong legs of yours are a little sore from all that running,” Naomi begins as the water reaches her chest, she sits forward and reaches for the cocoa butter soap and lathers her hands. “Seems they can do with a nice soapy soak…”

He smirks and lifts one leg, then the other as she wraps her hands around them and glides the soap up and down. When she reaches his feet, she kneads into his sole which elicits a pleasured groan as the callousness softens with her gentle touch. 

“I would run a freakin’ marathon if it meant getting this sort of treatment again,” Nick muses, intertwining his fists within hers’ and pulling her back in against his chest. A shield protecting his aching, aging heart, though he notices a stiffness in her back and shoulders, and he feels a twinge of empathy for the woman he’s hugging into himself. 

“Bet sitting around all day in that desk chair doing the easy work isn’t doing you any favors either…” Nick hums as he takes the bottle in his hand and starts to massage her back with soapy kneads. 

“Careful there, Stokes, that large Texan mouth of yours might need to get washed out with soap,” Naomi teases, splashing a bit of water over her shoulder at him before reaching for her glass of wine. 

“Gladly,” Nick whispers as he starts to kiss the back of her neck, following the slide of soap down her spine with his puckered lips. 

Naomi shudders as he pushes her forward, she feels the heat rising from the steaming water that dares to touch the top of her nose before she turns the faucet off, and while Nicks lips are traveling further, so are his hands, wrapping around her waist, dancing in front of the forest, asking to be let in…

“Mmmm,” she moans, turning around clumsily in the tub—Nick’s instincts act fast to pull her before she falls entirely, but she’s unbothered, casually sipping the glass before offering it to Nick, whose face is already flushed even before the effects of alcohol on his boiled body. Her lips curl at the sight of the white foam bubbling in his beard, knowing that once they get out of the tub there’ll be another white substance bespeckling the grey of his beard. 

Naomi leans back against the other end of the tub, putting her legs up next to Nick and he rests his head on her ankles as he starts to stroke her thigh. She grins and lifts her pelvis and he gets the game, lifts his in return. She laughs as he squirms to keep his belly covered in the water but not so that his butt cheeks touch the floor, a feat she achieves with relative ease though she tucks some of the flabby flesh in. 

They close their eyes, share the same day dream of floating, drifting away from their lives without a care in the world. No weight, no forces, not even gravity keeping their bodies from fizzling and fading like a bath bomb in the water. Their essences revealed, their souls melted together in a puddle of warmth and water. 

They remain there until the tub goes cold. 


End file.
